 Andrew Flintoff has become the first ever international cricketer to have turned
down a national contract, to be able to prolong his career as a T20 cricketer,
both at the international and the club level. This would mean that Flintoff may
also end up missing international tours in order to play for the lucrative cricket
leagues like the Indian Premier League.
The ECB had offered him an incremental contract to cover his ODIs after his
retirement from test match cricket, but Andrew Flintoff has clearly said
no to the ECB. He has said that he would love to pursue playing cricket in various
countries in the world; and this would mean that he would play domestic T20
tournaments across the world. This could include the IPL, and the KFC T20 Big
Bash in Australia apart from the ones in South Africa or New
Zealand.
Flintoff said, "I've been very lucky playing for England for the
past 11 years and I've sampled different countries, but I've always wanted the
opportunity to play more in these places, get to know them and the way they
go about their cricket." He also said that he was happy to receive the
incremental contract, which came out as a pleasant surprise to him, but he would
not want to be instructed when to play and when to rest, but would prefer to
pick and choose his games as he wished.
However, the ECB has said that it will respond back only after deciding what
needs to be said; if at all. The problem that Flintoff could face is with the
clashes of schedule between the IPL and the international commitments; next
year, there is a scheduled tour to Bangladesh which will overlap with
the IPL meaning that the English cricketers will be able to play only three
weeks of the IPL.
There is, however, a clause in the IPL contract that does not allow a cricketer
to play in the league if he does not get an NOC from the respective cricket
board. In this case, given that Flintoff has decided not to renew his contract,
it depends on whether the cricket board gives him the NOC to participate in
the tournament - a decision either ways would be an interesting one to follow!
Flintoff is the joint-costliest player in the IPL currently, with a price tag
of $1.55 million; having being bought by the Chennai Super Kings at the
last auction.
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